Removing "power extension cable" from R98SE-C3 (standard 9800 HDD connector)

emboss · Mar 16, 2005

Removing "power extension cable" from R98SE-C3 (standard 9800 HDD connector)

See http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=370255 for a few more details ...

After a little incident involving (I suspect) a slightly loose connection, the connector on my power extension cable now has a dead 5V pin (scorched). So, I want to remove the cable from my card ... but it doesn't come out!

I know it's possible to get it out. I put in there in the first place. I've tried pulling it with bare hands, and even with a small pair of pliers and the thing just won't move. I'm a little bit scared of either ripping the socket off the board or snapping the board, so haven't tried full-sized pliers or anything. I suspect there's a trick to getting it out. Any hints?

If all else fails, I'm trying to decide between resoldering a new connector on, or epoxying a steel cable between a 50kg weight and the plug for a bit more leverage ...

felinusz · Mar 16, 2005

The molex plug might be slightly melted from the fried 5V pin, which could account for the stuck plug - I would try to work at it with an exacto knife, and very carefully continue pulling at it with a pair of pliers. Take your time, and do not put an over-large amount of stress on the card's plug.

Is your card still under warranty? If so, you are in luck, and better off mailing it in for repair or replacement, then fixing it yourself.

Good luck.

SolidxSnake · Mar 16, 2005

if you could get a pic of it, that would be GREAT...

is it the female pin melted to the actual card?? thats NEVER good...

emboss · Mar 16, 2005

It's the non-card end of the cable that's damaged. The card end appears to be fine (though stuck). The card is not really under warranty, as I've popped a VGA silencer on, not to mention that I've moved countries since I bought the card which complicates things a little ... I don't have a digital camera on me at the moment, and it isn't really that impressive. I think I caught it before it got really bad. It's just somewhat discoloured around the 5V pin.

SolidxSnake · Mar 16, 2005

well, thats good...but if its only the non-card end, it should come out easily

emboss · Mar 17, 2005

"Should" being the important word. Yes is *should*, IMO, come out easily. But I spent about 45 minutes and pretty much all of my fingernails this afternoon and it didn't even move half a mm. The back of the plug was aligned with the end of the board before, and it still is. There's definately SOMETHING holding it there very well. I cleaned the connectors with meths (which worked quite well), widened the male part with a needle, and stuck a thermistor on the side of the socket. It seems to be working OK at the moment but I'd prefer to have a new cable in there ...

arr2036 · Jun 14, 2005

Unsolder the molex and and grab a new one from your local electronics shop....

Apart from that i don't know , could try isproyol alcohol seems to solve everything for me

emboss · Jun 14, 2005

I did get it off eventually. What I did was lay the card flat on a table (on an antistatic bag

) and got a friend to hold a book up against the edge of the table. So the card would take any pulling force of the plug along the whole "back" edge of the card. Then, I got a pair of needle-nose pliers, got one part of the pliers into the plug (forced it in where one of ground wires goes in), grabbed hold of it, and pulled really really hard. REALLY REALLY hard.

On the first attempt the pliers slipped and I ended up in a pile about 3 metres from the table. On the second attempt the plug came out fine (and I again ended up in a pile about 3 metres from the table), with a slight bit of warping of the nylon from the stress. The socket was still attached to the board fortunately

I have no idea why it was so hard to get out. Subsequent plugs I have put in are well plugged in, but still relatively easily removable. Oh well, at least I know what to do now if another one gets stuck!

techun · Jun 14, 2005

i would've cut off the one end of the molex, and leave the stuck end in there..attach a new end to the bad end.

emboss · Jun 14, 2005

Yeah, probably would have been a better idea. But I wanted to put one of the OCZ PowerStream's nice ferrite'd cables in, and also I was beginning to take it's refusal to come out personally

Evil_Eye · Jun 14, 2005

emboss said:
I did get it off eventually. What I did was lay the card flat on a table (on an antistatic bag ) and got a friend to hold a book up against the edge of the table. So the card would take any pulling force of the plug along the whole "back" edge of the card. Then, I got a pair of needle-nose pliers, got one part of the pliers into the plug (forced it in where one of ground wires goes in), grabbed hold of it, and pulled really really hard. REALLY REALLY hard.

On the first attempt the pliers slipped and I ended up in a pile about 3 metres from the table. On the second attempt the plug came out fine (and I again ended up in a pile about 3 metres from the table), with a slight bit of warping of the nylon from the stress. The socket was still attached to the board fortunately

I have no idea why it was so hard to get out. Subsequent plugs I have put in are well plugged in, but still relatively easily removable. Oh well, at least I know what to do now if another one gets stuck!

0_0

Is the card still working after all that?

emboss · Jun 14, 2005

Works fine. I probably took more damage than the card

Due to the way that it was attached to the card, it would be basically impossible to rip the socket off the board if you pull along the direction of the card. If it had been a more flimsy connector I probably would have been a little more careful

Removing "power extension cable" from R98SE-C3 (standard 9800 HDD connector)

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